The presence of the first human communities in Venosa area dates back to the lower Paleolithic, testified by the discovery of numerous stone tools of an advanced type (amygdale) of that period. The first anthropic organization of the area occurred during the Neolithic but around the seventh century BC there was the first Daunian (Apulian) stable settlement on the Venosino plateau. In the 4th century BC, the Samnites, took possession of the village. Although relatively short (400 - 290 BC), the Samnite domination represented a period of power and prosperity for the town.
The beginning of Roman expansionism towards the south of the peninsula began in 291 BC. The protagonist of the conquest was L. Postumio Megello who was soon ousted and replaced by the powerful Fabii family. It was the Fabii, in fact, who took care of the founding ceremonies of the city, and decided to confirm the name of Venusia for the new colony. Framed among the colonies of Latin law, Venosa enjoyed a large autonomy, bound only to an alliance pact with Rome. The colony played an active role during the second Punic War (218 - 201 BC), which saw Rome engaged against Hannibal's armies, providing substantial aid during the various phases of the conflict. On the occasion of the famous battle of Cannae, Venosa welcomed the garrisons that survived the massacre and provided them with the necessary supports to launch the counterattack. In this period, the city had to be undoubtedly worn and severely reduced in the number of inhabitants if in 200 BC. a colonists reinforcement was sent there, a choice appointed by the triumvirs. Starting in 190 BC, with the definitive extension of the Via Appia (the oldest of the Roman consular roads), the city became an important commercial and therefore administrative center, acquiring a privileged position in the area.
As result of the lex julia de civitate, Venusia was upgraded in the hierarchical system of Roman cities, becoming municipium civium romanorum, and inserted in the tribus Horatia, the old tribe where the classes of government were framed. In 43 BC Venusia lost the status of Roman municipality and returned to being a military colony. The return to the old status, however, should not be considered as a simple downgrading, on the contrary, the influx of new population chosen among the most valiant war veterans, favored the beginning of a new period of prosperity and economic development. The time of Emperor Augustus coincided with the period of maximum economic expansion of Venusia, a period in which the city experienced, among other things, a significant increase in public buildings (spas, amphitheater, etc.). By 114 AD, with the decision of the Emperor Trajan to deviate the original route of the Via Appia, by building a variant towards the Adriatic coast, Venosa remained cut off from the major communication routes and began to lose the role of an important military center.
In late ancient times in Venosa, now downsized from its original role, the Christian message began to spread, especially in extra-urban areas (hence the presence of some small religious buildings outside the walls). In 238, Philip, appointed bishop of Venosa, head of a large Christian community, began the slow process of replacing religious power with civilian power in the administration of the city. The emergence of bishopric power as an expression of the new local ruling class led the bishop himself to gradually assume the powers and prerogatives of the civil administration.
It is interesting, however, to note in the late ancient period, from the fourth century AD on, the presence of an important Jewish community in Venosa. This is confirmed by the discovery of epigraphs, the catacombs near the Maddalena hill, a hypogeum complex for sepulchral use full of inscriptions in Greek, Latin and Hebrew characters. All of it tells us about the history of this community and its integration into the Roman social and administrative system, as well as the particularities of funeral customs.
In the early Middle Ages, Venosa saw its north-eastern borders move backwards considerably and therefore its urban perimeter was reduced. Alongside this phenomenon, there was also a strong demographic contraction and a constant abandonment of the countryside which became less secure. The town, like many other centers, was downsized and transformed according to medieval town planning.
Venosa is rich in evidence of its ancient history, in addition to the important prehistoric site of Notarchirico, there is an important Roman archaeological area in the locality of S. Rocco. The most interesting elements of the archaeological park are undoubtedly the thermal baths and the amphitheater. There are also many testimonies from private domus. The spa complex consists of several rooms, in particular small brick pillars characterize the tepidarium while the frigidarium has mosaic floors with geometric subjects of marine animals. The amphitheater of the Julius Claudius period could accommodate up to 10,000 spectators and was elliptical in shape, with part of the perimeter and parts of the walls in the opus mixtus and opus reticulatus styles still preserved. Quite interestingly in Venosa it is possible to see the blurred transition from Rome to the Middle Ages, which in the abbey of the Holy Trinity, with its stratification preserving elements of later eras integrated.
Outside the Roman perimeter, there is a double structure which includes two churches dating back to the Norman era. The first, called the ancient church, is in Romanesque style, with a basilica plan with three naves, with traces on the floor of a previous paleochristian basilica of the 6th century AD, in its turn built on a pagan temple dedicated to the god Hymenaeus. Furthermore, at lower level, mosaic floors were found in a private domus of the imperial age. Next to this church there is another very suggestive construction, known as the unfinished church. Its construction began in the thirteenth century, but was suspended for lack of funds. Today it remains exactly as it was left at that time. The apsidal Latin cross perimeter is complete with the walls raised and well preserved, inside two complete arches, five Corinthian columns and a supporting pillar, part of the facade and the baptistery are the elements that they managed to build before abandoning the work
The abbey of SS. Trinità, located at the far end of the city, stands where the city political and economic center once was. It consists of three parts: the ancient church, flanked on the right by an advanced building which was once the place reserved for pilgrims (guesthouse, on the ground floor, monastery on the upper floor), the unfinished church, whose perimeter walls develop behind the ancient Church and continuing on the same axis, and the Baptistery, probably an early Christian church with two baptismal basins, separated from this by a short space. The first interventions of construction of the ancient church, carried out on an early Christian building dating back to the V - VI century, in turn built on the ruins of a pagan temple dedicated to the god Hymenaeus, must be traced back at the end of the X century. The church has a typical paleochristian structure: a large central nave measuring 10 meters wide, side aisles five meters wide respectively, and an apse on the bottom and a "corridor" type crypt. The walls and pillars appear decorated with frescoes dating from the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries (Madonna and Child, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Niccolò II, Benedicente Angel, Deposition). Inside, next to the mentioned frescoes, there are the marble tomb of Aberada, wife of Robert the Guiscard and mother of Boemondo, hero of the first crusade and, in front, the Altavilla tomb, testimony of their devotion and their particular attachment to the religious building.
The unfinished temple, whose entrance is surmounted by a semicircular arch embellished with the symbol of the Order of the Knights of Malta, is quite large (covers an area of 2073 square meters). The plant is a Latin cross with a very protruding transept whose arms have two oriented apses. The interior is characterized by the presence of many stone ashlars from the nearby Roman amphitheater (Latin epigraph reminiscent of the Venosine gladiatorial school of Silvio Capitone, a bas-relief depicting a head of Medusa, etc.). The crisis in which the Benedictine monastery plunged immediately after the start of the expansion works, was certainly the cause of the interruption for the non-completion. In front of the entrance there are the remains of a large curved wall; it is what remains of the Baptistery today or more likely of a basilica building with two baptismal basins.
Near the Maddalena hill, just a kilometer away are the Jewish Catacombs. They occupy the area of such hill and are divided into various nuclei of considerable historical and archaeological interest. A row of caves dug into the tuff and partly collapsed, heralds the presence of the Jewish and Paleochristian Catacombs. Inside there are niches in the wall and in the soil. The niches (arcosolii) contain two or three tombs as well as lateral niches for children. They were discovered in 1853 (the complete documentation relating to the discovery is kept in the historical archive) and showed indelible signs of looting and devastation. At the end of the main gallery, turning left, there are numerous epigraphs (43 of the III and IV centuries) in letters painted in red or graffiti. Of these, 15 are in Greek, 11 in Greek with Hebrew words, 7 in Latin, 6 in Latin with Hebrew words, 4 in Hebrew, and 4 others are in fragments.
The Jewish community, whose original nucleus was probably Hellenistic, as can be seen from the epigraphs, was mostly made up of traders and landowners.Several of them took on important positions in the city government. Also in Venosa the Jews concentrated economic power in their hands, holding a monopoly on trade of wheat, textiles and wool. In 1972 another burial ground was discovered in the Maddalena hill, the 4th century Christian Catacomb, whose original entrance was located about 22 meters from the level of the path leading to the Jewish Catacombs. On that occasion, 20 arcosoli were found in the access corridor, 10 per wall, as well as lamp fragments and a complete one of red clay, so-called beaded type dating back to the IV century BC. A light clay lamp of Mediterranean type was also found, fallen into a niche and a sepulchral slab attributed to the year 503.
At the point where the manor is located, there was previously the ancient Cathedral dedicated to S. Felice, the Saint who, according to tradition, suffered martyrdom in Venosa at the time of the Emperor Diocletian. The ancient Cathedral was demolished to make room for the fortification when, in 1443, Venosa was brought as a dowry by Maria Donata Orsini, daughter of Gabriele Orsini prince of Taranto, to Pirro del Balzo, son of Francesco Duke of Andria. The construction work on the Castle, which began in the second half of the 15th century, continued for several decades. The original appearance was far from the actual: it was, in fact, like a square-plan fortification, defended by a 3-meter-thick wall, with cylindrical corner towers, devoid of the same ramparts that were completed in the middle of the following century. Born as a defensive post, later, with the Gesualdo it became the residence of the feudal lord.
Passed to the Ludovisi as a property of the fiefdom, it was completely abandoned, and the violence of the seismic shocks that repeatedly struck throughout the seventeenth century undermined its structure and functionality. The Caracciolo family (successors of the Ludovisi fiefdom) provided for the reconstruction of the ancient manor, with the addition of parts more suited to the times, such as the elegant loggia on the main floor, with the aim of reaffirming the aristocratic power over the increasingly distant glorious past of the city.
The original entrance was on the north-east side, and was equipped with a drawbridge. The actual one, at the beginning of the access bridge, have two lion heads taken from Roman ruins: a typical and recurring ornamental element in a city that in the past has made extensive use of bare material. Inside the Castle, the loggia with octagonal pillars of the XVI century overlooks the courtyard.
Site dating back to the 1st century AD. C. better known as Casa di Quinto Orazio Flacco. A structure consisting of the thermal rooms of a patrician house, made up of a round room that formed the calidarium and an adjoining rectangular room. The facade shows visible traces of Roman structures covered with cross-linked bricks.
Inaugurated in November 1991. Inside, the museum itinerary winds through a series of sections that illustrate the various phases of the ancient city life, starting from the period before Romanization, documented by red-figure pottery and votive materials ( terracotta, bronzes including a belt) of the IV - III century BC coming from the sacred area of Fontana dei Monaci di Bastia (today Banzi) and from Forentum (Lavello). This section is dominated by a child funeral, containing the Api bull statuette, and the famous Catarinella askos with a funeral procession scene (end of IV - III century BC). The walkways of the castle trace the life of ancient Venusia since its foundation, with the reconstruction of the urban layout and the most important documents of the republican phase (the architectural terracotta, the black-painted ceramic production, the ex-voto from the stipe under the amphitheater, the rich bronze coinage). The epigraphic collection is very significant and consistent and allows to retrace the most important stages in the history of the ancient center, such as the reorganization of the colony in the first century BC, well represented by the templum augurale bantino, rebuilt in the Museum, with memorial stones inscribed to draw the auspices, and by a fragment of the famous Tabula bantina, with legislative texts on both sides, found near Oppido Lucano in 1967. The epigraphs , some of which recall magistrates engaged in the reconstruction of roads or in the construction of infrastructures such as the aqueduct, are above all of a funerary nature with a significant number of memorial stones, arched steles, ark covers (the so-called "arca lucana"), funeral monuments with life-size busts and statues and rich Doric friezes, from the 1st until the 4th century AD constitute a precious testimony of the social stratification of the city.
About nine kilometers from the modern city, in a hilly area extending up to the artificial caves of Loreto, there is the Paleolithic Site of Notarchirico, consisting of a covered museum area set up and entrusted by the Luigi Pigorini Paleolithic Institute of Rome. The discovery of the first evidence of prehistoric times human presence, was due to the passion and scientific ability of the lawyer Pinto and prof. Briscese who, in the summer of 1929, carried out the first surveys on the territory, bringing to light the first significant finds. Subsequent excavation campaigns made possible to find a series of fragments of prehistoric period as well as numerous remains of now extinct animals (ancient elephant, bison, wild ox, rhinoceros, deer, etc.).
Among the tools found, the double-sided are to be mentioned. An skull of Elephas anticuus was found during the excavations of 1988. Research is carried on by the Special Superintendence in collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Basilicata, with the University of Naples "Federico II" and with the Municipality of Venosa. In September 1985, a highly fossilized fragmentary human femur attributed to an adult female individual was found. The femur probably belonged to a Homo erectus, is the oldest human remains found in Southern Italy and has some pathological aspects, studied by prof. Fornaciari, consisting of a bone neoformation, perhaps the result of an osteoperiostitis resulting from a deep wound in the thigh suffered by the living individual. The femur was given to the laboratories of the Institute of Human Paleontology in Paris for study and its dating. By using the method of imbalance of the uranium series, it has been dated to about 300,000 years ago.
He was born on December 8, 65 BC. Son of a freed slave, he did not have maternal comfort in his childhood, in fact he grew up only with his father, who always took care of him lovingly. In Venosa the boy had as his teacher mainly his father for whom he held immense gratitude. With popular tenacity the freedman had to work hard to allow his son to settle in Rome, perhaps an omen of his destiny. In Rome he attended the best grammar and rhetoric schools (he was a pupil, among others, of the Benevento grammarian Orbilio). At 18 the poet is in Athens, where he appropriates the finer culture of the time, a pupil of famous academics, peripatetics, epicureans. There he adhered to the republican ideology of the young Roman patricians and during this period he was involved in the historic battle of Philippi (42 BC). Miraculously spared, he returned to Rome (41 BC), taking advantage of Ottaviano's political amnesty, who however did not spare his rustic assets in his native Venosa, subsequently confiscated. Without means, he had to adapt to being a scribe in the commissioner's office.
In the meantime, his compositions began to find admirers in Rome and they were not slow to be appreciated also by Virgil and Vario with who he became friend for life; they introduced him to Mecenate to whom news of the Venusian poet had already arrived. With the friendship of Mecenate he became part of a small elite of intellectuals close to the emperor Augustus. The latter designated him as his secretary, but Orazio declined the invitation, while sharing his action on both the political and literary levels. In 17 BC was commissioned to write the secular Carmen, in honor of Apollo and Diana, to be sung during the ludi saeculares. In 20 BC began to "publish" the Epistles, the second book of which includes three long poems of aesthetic subject, including the poetic art. In this last year of life he wrote the four books of the Odes, among which the so-called Roman Odes are distinguished. He died on November 27 of 8 BC after a short time of the death of his great friend and protector, leaving his possessions to Augustus who had him buried on the Esquiline next to the tomb of Mecenate.
